Sponsorships for sports up 14% : Report
Sports sponsorships in India grew by 14 per cent to reach ~73 billion in 2017. Media spends (across print, TV and digital) on sports contributed the most (55 per cent of overall spends), followed by ground sponsorships, according to a report.
Sports sponsorships now account for 12 per cent of the total advertising expenditure , even as sports viewership is only 5 per cent of the total TV viewership, according to ESP (GroupM’s sports marketing division) and Sportzpower’s Making of a Sports Nation V — India Sponsorship Report 2017.
Vinit Karnik, business head, ESP Properties, said, “2017 was truly the big year for the business of sports. With the Pro Kabaddi League emerging as the second-most popular league in India after the Indian Premier League, and the India edition of U-17 Football World Cup creating history in terms of audience attendance, sports sponsorships have enjoyed a bull run. As the popularity of sports grows in India, sports stars also expand their brand endorsement portfolios. Virat Kohli led brand endorsements with 19 brands and ~1.5+ billion in value, while PV Sindhu leads the non-cricket endorsement space with 11 brands and ~300+ million in value.”
Media spends grew 15.8 per cent from ~35.11 billion in 2016 to ~40.65 billion in 2017. TV led the way, growing at 42.7 per cent to ~33.79 billion over 2016’s ~23.67 billion.
2017 saw the gap between print and digital spends narrow further, as print clocked ~3.56 billion in media spends as against digital’s ~3.3 billion.
The growth in digital has come from cricket more than any other sport.
On-ground sponsorships grew by 14.7 per cent from ~11.65 billion to ~13.37 billion in 2017, led once again by cricket (~6.69 billion, growing at 18.9 per cent), followed by football (~1.79 billion) and kabaddi (~1.14 billion). Football showed maximum growth in attracting onground money at 63.8 per cent (2016 — ~1.1 billion), primarily on the back of the FIFA Under17World Cup, which took place in India and was aired on the Sony Pictures Sports Network.